the train's legato notes / leaving indigo's dawn / asleep in bed
the last first kiss
will be like cardinal prints
on 5 a.m. snow –
a lacy surprise melting
into dawn
folding paper blinds –
apologies met with light
yet I turn aside
for winter
on the lip
of your chalice -
as close as
you will
allow
a monarch's flight
around the sugar maple -
who is courting whom
the high made low
prostrate
before October
again
a fleeting season
of prodigal
vows
sable dissolving
into not-quite dawn –
I follow the wick
towards a peppery break
to face the hues of our stay
stained glass morning
yielding shattered praises
before the storm -
how light
will not be
kept
a thousand times a day
I rise and fall
in a few short notes -
cardinals, crows, and chickadees
white sheet slipping
and golden slanted light -
an uncovered heart
cannot lie
for long
a train haunts
in the softer distance -
the ache of here
and not here
missing words bent low -
the daisies finish
too soon
ginger needles
softening the trail -
her lost and found
hummingbird heart -
my mother's beauty
at rest
chicory blue -
the river and I
mouth the meadow
the seed
has not perished
you called me beautiful
once
the birth
of belief
ladybug
in my hair and
sand in the sheets -
summer love doesn't stay
alone
wind hurries the blossoms along -
I remain to tend and
tend to remain
a thousand different leaves whispering this everyday way
eddies of stars
and a rill of sighs -
a thin offering of contrition
